SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Tesfahiwot Okube grew up cooking the food traditional of his native Eritrea—first at a cafe at the Ethiopian refugee camp he called home for seven years and now, his own restaurant here in Syracuse.
His aptly-named EthioEritrea Restaurant opened in early November at 505 N. State St. The building was most recently home to Mai Lan. One of Syracuse’s oldest Vietnamese restaurants, Mai Lan closed in October 2018 after more than 25 years of business.
Okube’s menu is wide-ranging, but many start with the same base—injera, the sourdough flatbread made of teff that serves as the primary utensil, as the food is traditionally eaten by peeling off pieces of the flatbread and using it to grab the food. Many of the dishes are stews, called wots, made with meat—often beef, lamb or chicken—and a variety of vegetables. Another page of the menu is devoted to vegetarian and vegan dishes, such as braised greens and stews made with red lentils or chickpeas.
Jacob Pucci
The Misto platter, a combination of beef dishes and accompaniments.
Other traditional dishes available include tibs, a dish of cubed beef spiced with berbere and onion served in a special clay serving bowl kept hot from lit coals, and a few different pastas, a reflection of Italy’s colonial influence on the Horn of Africa.
Much of the menu is the same as it was at the cafe Okube ran at the refugee camp, he said.
The small dining room has around 10 tables, as well as two mesobs, ornate covered wicker baskets that serve as communal serving dishes.
“This is the way we grew up,” he said. ""Everything here is traditional of Ethiopia and Eritrea."
Jacob Pucci
The two mesobs, a communal serving dish traditional in Ethiopian and Eritrean culture.
Ethiopian coffee is served daily, but the real treat is available on the weekends, when the restaurant offers a formal coffee ceremony. Traditional in Ethiopia and Eritrea, the ceremony starts with roasting the coffee beans over an open flame. The beans are then ground and mixed with water in an earthen pot called a jebena. Heated over coals, the finished coffee is unfiltered, quite strong and served in small cups alongside popcorn and other snacks.
The restaurant also currently serves breakfast. Breakfast dishes include fata, a traditional bread salad of pita bread, yogurt, vegetables and spices; firfir, a dish of injera pieces cooked in a spicy pepper and onion-based sauce and a number of egg dishes, including a frittata—more akin to the baked Italian style, as opposed to the Syracuse scramble style.
Related: Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen: A variety of flavors in one dinner (Dining Out Review)
Okube, who has worked in food service since coming to Syracuse, said he’s wanted to open a restaurant for the last three years. When tthe building became available following the closing of Mai Lan, he jumped at the chance. He said he eventually plans to turn the second floor into a specialty grocery store of traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean ingredients.
The restaurant is open Monday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sunday, from noon to 8 p.m. Okube said he eventually plans to open at 8 a.m. for breakfast.
Jacob Pucci finds the best in food, dining and culture across Central New York. Contact him by email at jpucci@syracuse.com.
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